Likelihood to Recommend

ActiveCampaign

For the small business who is just getting started or has a list smaller than 2,500 contacts, ActiveCampaign is a leader in smart communication. Compared with free (or cheap) alternatives like MailChimp or Constant Contact, the feature set provides a lot more value. The one real caveat here is that you have to really want to use the features. For someone who is happy to just send out their monthly newsletter, this might be more than you need.

AllProWebTools

The CRM holds all of my contacts and it is already integrated with all of my other tools.

The Email Management system is already integrated with all of my other tools. This means that I do not have to download CSVs and upload them to a separate email program everytime I want to send out an email blast.

I can take payments in the same system that has my email marketing and CRM. This means that I can create tags and send different email campaigns depending on if I have received payment or not.

The website hosting means that I can use the same software to update my blog and gallery of food pictures.

I can sell tickets to my cooking classes from the same software that manages everything else that I do in my business.

I use the task manager that is built in to remind me of things I need to do. I really like that it is tied into my CRM so I can tag tasks to specific clients.

The built in timecard system allows me to "clock in" to whatever client that I am working on so that my time and hourly rate are automatically calculated for me. My invoices are sent automatically on the first of each month.

Cons

ActiveCampaign

Love to see them improve the overall speed of their program. Waiting for pages to load when creating emails and automations can be a real drag on productivity and create an overall frustrating experience. (Asana is the gold standard here).

I'd like them to improve email delvierability, as I've heard some complaints in this area.

I'd like them to create a more fleshed out deals section so we can completely replace all of our other CRM programs.

AllProWebTools

Likelihood to Renew

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 10.0

Based on 1 answer

I've tried over half a dozen email autoresponders and ActiveCampaign is by far my favorite. The ability to send emails is the backbone of my business. The "cheap" email marketing tools designed for the mass market are not powerful or intuitive to set up and also don't have the best deliverability. And the "expensive" ones are usually super confusing to use.

AllProWebTools

Usability

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 9.0

Based on 1 answer

It's super easy and fast to set up automations and email lists. In under five minutes, you can be mailing your list. I'm not a fan of complexity, and I'm also not a fan of being hamstrung by weak tools, so I really like using ActiveCampaign. It's the perfect blend of simplicity and power.

AllProWebTools

Reliability and Availability

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 10.0

Based on 1 answer

I've never had ActiveCampaign down for maintenance. I'm sure they update things, but they always seem to manage to stay live. Also, I've had very few errors, if any. None come to mind. This might be to due to the fact I focus on building things as simply as possible, but I also believe it's due to the quality of the software.

AllProWebTools

Performance

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 10.0

Based on 1 answer

ActiveCampaign works seamlessly with the other tools I use. It integrates directly with most. And if no direct integration is available, there is almost always one you can make using Zapier. I've yet to run into a technical error that prevented me from doing something I wanted to be able to do.

AllProWebTools

Support

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 9.0

Based on 1 answer

I have only had to reach out to ActiveCampaign support a couple of times, and every time they have helped me out quickly and efficiently. They get back to you pretty quickly and usually have the solution figured out within just a couple of message exchanges. Please keep in mind I use the simple features of ActiveCampaign, so if there's a complication solution you're looking for help with, your experience with support might be a little different.

AllProWebTools

Implementation

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 10.0

Based on 1 answer

If your email marketing strategy is clunky and confusing then it doesn't matter what tool you use or need to set up. It will take time to set it up. However, if you favor simple and effective email marketing strategies then you'll find that setting up ActiveCampaign is a breeze. And the results you'll get with it will far outweigh the time it takes to set it up.

AllProWebTools

Alternatives Considered

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is an awkward middle child between full fledged marketing automation (HubSpot, Marketo, Infusionsoft) and Email Service Providers (MailChimp, ConstantContact, CampaignMonitor). It's a step up from the ESPs with richer list management and branching logic without losing the drag and drop ease of use, while being a poorer cousin to the MA options that include detailed tracking, beautiful reports, landing pages and integrations with true CRMs.

Scalability

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign 10.0

Based on 1 answer

I've tried several of the email services available today. ActiveCampaign makes it easy and fast to get set up. And they have some of the best email deliverability available today as well. That's really important when it comes to email marketing, because winding up in spam or promotion folders makes your email marketing efforts and uphill battle.

AllProWebTools

Return on Investment

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign couldn't be mapped to any specific ROI partially due to the clunky reporting interface. We couldn't backtrack into any specific objectives like purchase decisions or course signups because it was too difficult to map those website actions to the specific campaigns.

The biggest value AC delivered was in terms of time saved creating specific drip campaigns. Cloning funnels, making edits, adding new branches was fast and easy and allowed us to iterate and move on to other things.